Not Quite Secret
by the-lady-luka
Summary: Minorly pointless fluff. The fun part is: I'm not telling you who this fic is about! You have to guess... Can you figure me out?
1. Default Chapter

**Not Quite Secret**

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-men. Ignore the distinctly Cajun-accented voice coming from my closet. It's nothing. Just mice. Cajun mice. Yeah, that's it. Mice.

Author's Note: Greetings and Salutations! This is an idea that's been floating and bubbling in my head for awhile. It's a nice bit of romantic fluff, but the fun part is, I'm not telling you who it's about! You get to guess, so no accents or anything, cause that would make it too easy. About halfway through, I'll tell you who one person is, and the last lines will tell you who the other is. It's a fun little game for me, and it should be fun for you too! So without further ado, let the games begin!

* * *

I know it is wrong. I knew it was wrong, and I knew it had been wrong since the very beginning.

He had known it was wrong, too. He had told me so the first moment he had taken me into his arms and hushed my sobs and kissed the tears from my eyes. But we did not care. How could we, and why should we care? The line we are crossing has been crossed before. The consequences are not fatal even if we are to be caught. And love is stronger than anything, he tells me. We are strongest together.

That is why I feel so alone without him. His name is doodled in countless margins, little hearts and stars around it. It isn't just me, though. He takes us to extremes. There is a tree hidden in the woods behind the high school, our names carved in it, one of those ME + YOU FOREVER kind of things, surrounded by a heart. It's huge. When I first saw it, I yelled at him, ranted and railed. What if it gets found?

He told me not to worry so much. Which is silly, and just makes me worry more. But now… especially now, I gather a kind of strength from it. That tree is a living testament to us. I don't feel like such a deceiver. It's not quite a secret. At least the tree knows.

A few days ago… he told me that wasn't enough. He says to me "I don't want to hide from your friends anymore. My pals took this news alright." He was right: they had. The Brotherhood is surprisingly good about some things. "We don't need to hide." He took my hands and gave me a watery-eyed stare. "I love you."

He sprung that one on me fast. But fast never surprises me with him. I paused, and he pouted. "Don't you love me?"

I knew it was a trick, a low, dirty trick. I knew that. But I couldn't help it. I told him I loved him too.

"Well then, let's tell them. We can be open about it."

It's not so easy, I tell him. Never that easy.

"Oh, come on. This isn't so bad."

So bad. So bad? I get flashbacks of the moment the world found out I was a mutant. That bad? Maybe that bad. Like that? Just like that. This hard. This secret. It feels like a betrayal, to whom I don't know, but betrayal, any way you slice it.

So this time I didn't answer him. I saw his big beautiful eyes shining at me with glistening tears. But I couldn't answer him. I wouldn't answer him. To this, there was nothing for me to say.

It was a week ago, exactly a week ago from now. We haven't spoken since. I've been thinking about what he said, wishing I could just do what he wanted of me. I want to do it, I think. I want to tell all my friends at the Institute. Yes, I am an X-man, yes, he's our enemy, and yes, I love him and he loves me. That's all.

But, do we even have a relationship anymore? Did our fight constitute a breakup? He'd been pretty upset with me. And a full week… I don't know. I'm not so experienced with relationships as one might think.

So at lunchtime, I fob off some excuse on my friends and go off in search of him, being careful to look like I'm only going to the bathroom. I don't want them following me.

I have to find him. Its all I know to do at this point.

He's standing with his tough guy friends. I can't be seen with all them in public. It might get back to the Institute… and that's not how I want it to go down.

He's showing off for them, bragging, so in character for him that it warms my heart just to see. Eventually, I'll need to get his attention, but for now I just watch him…

I catch his eye, and his expression goes to a cautious neutral. I need a sign from him… I smile. Not enough; no reaction. Time for the big guns.

I look around. No one's watching.

I mouth "I love you."

He smiles.

There's my sign. Maybe I can do this.

* * *

AN: Well, originally this was one chapter, but it got out of control and now is two…. But that works out better cause now you all have time to guess who the couple is!

Cookies to anyone who gets it right!

Luka


	2. Chapter 2

**Not Quite Secret**

Disclaimer: Still don't won the X-men… but for some strange reason, I've still got those darn Cajun "mice" in my closet. Insert mad fangirl giggles here.

Author's Note: Excuse the long update. I'd planned the update for about a week after the first entry, but Spring Break kinda got in the way. Now that the sunburns have all healed (by the by, sunburnOW!) I can update. No one has guessed the couple yet. The first part of this chapter is a dead-giveaway as to who the first party is, so after you figure that out you might want to take time to guess who the other person is. But you could just read to the end if you want…

* * *

So, I felt good. I'd gotten a bit of confirmation. I knew we still had something between us. 

So how to quench this half-nausea, half-euphoria? I mean, I'm walking around with this annoying spring in my step, but I know that sooner or later someone might notice.

I was so nervous, that in science that day, when my teacher mentioned that Mercury's common name was "Quicksilver", I panicked so badly that all my books hit the floor with a resounding thud. I got a few odd looks, raised eyebrows. I was just glad I hadn't given in to my first impulse and screamed.

So when school let out, I tried to picture how it would go. It would have to be almost immediately upon arriving home, mostly just to relieve my nerves. Everytime someone said "Speedy", I twitched. "Quick" got me almost as bad. But my biggest stress out was Jean.

Yes, because she could read minds. But I wasn't worried about that so much. I wouldn't give her time to be suspicious of me, and besides, she has these "high morals", which means that even if she DOES peek in your head without consent, she'd never tell, cause then she'd have to give herself away.

But that wasn't all.

Her car… was trashed. Eggs, shaving cream, the works. I'm not ashamed to admit I was in on it, at least to the extent that I knew it was going to happen, but no one had asked me. She just started to whine.

"It's the Brotherhood again. You know that, don't you?" It was phrased like a question, but we all knew that, if we were to answer, we'd share a piece of her wrath. Best for us to sit in mute agreement. "We need to do something. We have to do something." She almost shook with rage, or at least disappointment that her vehemence was not shared.

And then she did something that stung to my heart's core.

She turned on Kitty.

"This is YOUR FAULT. Your whole fling with Lance has left the Brotherhood with no respect for the X-men!" By her tone, respect was meant to mean fear. And I 'respected' her a whole lot like then. "They don't respect our boundaries any more! You spent too much time trying to break all our boundaries down! And why? Because you were 'in love'." She made air quotes with her fingers that somehow felt like claws ripping into my flesh, and her words dripped with venom. From the looks of her, Kitty wasn't taking this well either. "In Love! You two can hardly stand the sight of each other now! I just don't…"

Scott had finally had enough, evidently, because at that moment he came up behind her, put his hands on her shoulders, and whispered calming words in her ear.

She suddenly stopped, put down her waving arms, and mumbled an apology.

But Kitty and I shook in our seats all the way home.

This episode had made me unsure again, and I cursed myself for being so weak. I didn't want this.

I was momentarily grateful to the universe that it had given me my own bedroom in recent months because of the recent expansion of the mansion. But I should really thank Xavier for that, I guess. Its almost funny how credit and blame get distributed sometimes.

Like when two people in love are blamed for all the wickedness around them.

I was fed up. I didn't want to think about it quite yet. I locked the door to my room. I never wanted to leave. I threw myself on the bed with a sigh.

A rush of air made me lift my head. The windowed doors to the balcony were open, and the wind was stirring the curtains. I got up slowly and walked to close them, peeking suspiciously out onto the balcony, expecting to see a face…

But NOT expecting hands on my hips or the warm breath that tickled my ear when he said, "Looking for someone?"

I smiled. "No one important."

"Not important?" I heard the pout in his voice, his arms snaking around to my front, pulling me into a tight embrace.

"Well, maybe more important than most." I twisted around in his arms to stare up into his face. His huge blue eyes were so open and honest with me, seemingly unaware of how impossible this was, how fragile we were. But the fervency with which he kissed me showed me that on some level, he knew. But it had never been his philosophy of life to worry. I guess that, because he knew that we were so potentially breakable, he grasped what we had now with all his being. That's one of those things I hope to learn from him. It's one of the reasons I love him so.

When we finished our affectionate greeting, I finally looked at him, wondering…

"Why are you here, anyhow? I thought you were busy this afternoon." I had gotten the impression that he was out with the rest of the Brotherhood, wreaking havoc at the mall or something similar.

He smiled disarmingly at me, but there was a strange resolve in his expression. "I am busy. I'm coming with you."

"Coming with me?" I was completely stunned. What the hell could he mean?

"I wasn't going to let you tell them alone. It's my job as well as yours." Which was really only fair of him, because I had been there with him when he'd broken it to the Brotherhood. But it made me stare at him dumbstruck for a second. This couldn't be happening! Pietro stuck his neck out for no one and nothing but himself.

As he registered the shock on my face, his grin grew. "Yes. I'm serious."

"You're serious?"

He said nothing. He didn't have to. Bright blue eyes answered all my questions.

* * *

Professor Xavier looked up from his desk as the two figures entered without even knocking. He refused to show the shock he felt on his face, and so he collected himself quickly, and addressed the X-men standing before him, hand-in-hand with Pietro.

Then he asked a question to which the answer was already obvious.

"Was there something you wanted to tell me about, Kurt?"

* * *

AN: Okay, so I hope I've surprised some of you! I was trying real hard to make it look a bit like Lancitty in the beginning, so it might have thrown some of you off track, especially when I pointed at Kitty and Lance as characters outside this little romance. And I apologize to any big fans of Jean (if there be such a thing) but I needed someone to be the bad guy and give that lovely little rant, and that girl's preppy optimism just pisses me off, so I feel no need to be nice to her. But anyhow, I've had so much fun writing this, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. Let me know if you liked! 

Luka


End file.
